Hearts and Thiefs under the Mistletoe
by Darkhorse Douglas
Summary: It's the Domino High Winter Dance and the Mistletoe is set. Who will get caught? Will the magic of the holiday season finally bring Bakura and Marik together? Maybe with some help from two Christmas cupids and a utilities closet. Thiefshipping, Heartshipping, and a whole bunch of other ships come together to wish you a Merry Christmas!


**Author's Note:**

Hey everybody Merry Late Christmas! Yeah this is three days late sorry.

This is Thiefshipping! Yay! Yeah this is a Christmas one shot that takes place in what I'm calling my EverybodyLivesAU! Otherwise known as "Ghost of the Family" Universe. So Ryou's Mom and sister are alive in this. Takes place after season four and in that magical time of "who knows what happened" between four and five. All major side characters can see Astral forms why? Cause it's easier like that. Was going to have it just be item and previous item holders, but yeah Joeys never owned one of the items sooo.

Also thiefshipping isn't the only ship with a spotlight we also have. Drumroll! . . . Heartshipping, puzzleshipping, peachshipping, prideshipping, why are there so many P's?, polar and puppy sort of, whatever Tristan and Joey's sister is called, Amane and Mokuba? If you want to look at it that way? But they're like 12 and friends. Also the weird and nobody asked for it ships like the unreturned Miho/Ryou and Miho/Marik. For those two Miho lovers out there warning, bashing. Sorry it shouldn't be a shock.

Warning! Language! Like a lot. Wow I need to wash out the Bakuras mouths. They are like more than half of the cursing. Also this is the only reason it's teen. Language that's it so if you can handle a few Bloody's and a few f-bombs you can handle this promise. Also alcohol, no one drinks but past drinking mentioned.

Note: Japanese names for everybody. Jonouchi=Joey, Honda=Tristan, and Shizuka=Serenity. Also just gonna toss this out there I call Marik, Marik not Malik.

This is a Late Christmas gift to Somefxckingnerd on tumblr. So Merry Christmas and I hope you like it. This started out as a short one shot based on just their short comic of Ryou and Bakura trying to get their love interests under the Mistletoe. Then it exploded into this 9,000 word monster. With WAY to much drama, sorry I hope you like angst in your thiefshipping. Yeah. . .

Merry Christmas one last time and ENJOY!

* * *

Winter One Shot

"I can't believe you convinced me to go to this bloody thing." Complained Bakura for the millionth time that night.

"You didn't really have a choice in the matter. I decided I wanted to go so you just have to deal with coming with me." Explained an exasperated Ryou as they started walking around the gym looking for his friends. It was Domino High's Winter Dance and Ryou had sprung that he wanted to go, on an unsuspecting Bakura just the week before.

"Correction I can't believe you WANT to go to this Bloody thing. I thought you hated dances." Grumbled Bakura as he tried to avoid people that couldn't see him in his astral form and just seemed to love trying to walk through him.

"No, I hate Dancing that's different." Corrected Ryou finally seeing his friends at one of the tables at the other end of the gym.

Ryou's friends were all sitting at a table together date beside date. Honda was sitting by Shizuka, Jonouchi was sitting beside them quietly glaring at Honda with a bored Kaiba at his side. No they were not here as dates. Jonouchi had invited Mai, but since it was so close to the holiday's she had to travel back to America to visit with her family. Anzu was sitting beside Kaiba with an empty seat beside her that was obviously for Yugi. Marik was sitting by the dizzy date he randomly said yes to after she asked like eight bazillion times named Miho. All the girls were wearing semi-formal gowns that were a shade of blue or white. The boys were all wearing suits not just Kaiba for once. All of them were wearing either a black tie or a dark blue tie that in the horrible lighting looked black. Except for Marik of course he was wearing a bright red tie and had a dark green undershirt under a black vest jacket.

"They seem damn close to the same thing to me." Argued Bakura noticing Ryou's friends as well. Bakura immediately started growling when he saw Miho sitting so close to Marik they were practically sharing a seat.

"Annnd we are getting drinks first." Said Ryou when he notice which part of the table Bakura was glaring at. Ryou had to drag Bakura by the arm to the concessions table.

"Of all the hundreds of girls that asked him to this dance. He had to pick the idiotic wench of a girl who used to flirt with you until she found someone she deemed hotter. Ugh he's such a-"

"Stupid child?" Finished Ryou for Bakura. "You know he asked her to the dance, because he knew me and her had a "history" and that it would make you pissed right?"

"That not why he said yes to her. He said yes, because she's supposedly the hottest wench in this entire damn school and he wanted to show off that he could get her for a girlfriend." Argued Bakura and Ryou started going through the buffet table filling half the plate with food he liked and half with what Bakura liked.

"To get your attention you idiot. He's still mad that you said no last September and wants to get you back for it." Said Ryou simply as he finished filling the plate. "If you talked to him about it instead of avoiding it maybe you two could get past this whole awkward phase."

"It's not a phase and it's not that awkward. Like you should be talking about communication you still haven't admitted your crush to the Pharoah's host yet." Argued back Bakura.

"There is no "crush" to admit there alright. I don't even fully know if I'm interested in him that way or if I'm just confused, because I've never had a friend I was so close to before. Besides you and Marik of course." Defended Ryou heading for the refreshments table.

"Of course, because the feelings you have for me and Marik are the same as the ones you have for Yugi." Responded Bakura sarcastically.

"Exactly! Wait a minute were you mocking me? Bakura! This is serious! I might have feelings for Yugi! You know the harborer of your immortal ENEMY!?" Reminded Ryou slightly panicked. "Also I'm pretty sure if given the chance Yugi and the Spirit of the Puzzle would be a thing. Me stepping in would just complicate things." Said Ryou seeming disappointed at this revelation.

"Sure they would probably be a thing if given the chance, but if you step in now they won't be given a chance and you would totally ruin the bastard Pharoah's love life. Ha! You should totally try with Yugi now." Spoke Bakura completely getting behind the idea of the two of them together.

"Nice to know I have your support." Answered Ryou sarcastically as he finished getting the drinks for him and Bakura.

"You do, and seeing as how my plans are full proof I predict you two being together by the end of the year." Said Bakura jokingly, completely losing his bad mood.

"Yeah, because so many of your plans have worked. Knowing you, you'll probably end up killing Yugi the one time you can't have him dead." Joked Ryou back to Bakura as they started to head for the table where Ryou's friends sat.

"Speak of the Bloody devil." Said Bakura as he stopped suddenly.

"What?" Questioned Ryou at Bakura's growing grin. Ryou finally looked to wear Bakura was looking and was surprised to see Yugi standing to the side seemingly staring off into nothing.

"Well are you going to go over there or not?" Asked Bakura as he started pushing Ryou towards Yugi.

"Why would I go over and talk to him now? I don't even know what I would say to him!" Said Ryou starting to panic.

"Ugh! I swear you're so Bloody blind." Said Bakura as he rolled his eyes still pushing Ryou towards Yugi.

"No I'm not! I can see Yugi just fine and I know what you're trying to do. But I won't confess any make believe crush to him." Spoke Ryou starting to get upset.

"Bloody hell. No wonder you kids always get trapped under these things you never fucking lookup." Grumbled Bakura started to get annoyed with Ryou's struggling that was causing them to lose some food from their plate. (Most of it was Bakura's)

"Lookup?" Questioned Ryou as he finally looked closer at where Yugi was standing.

In his rush to find a corner not filled with people Yugi had unknowingly ended up right under the MISTLETOE! Now was Ryou's chance! He could finally ask Yugi for a kiss and find out if he had any romantic feelings for him! At this revelation Ryou stopped struggling and started actually moving faster than Bakura towards their destination. Who knew if any of Yugi's fangirls would notice this mistake as well a jump the short duelist.

"Wait. Bakura I'll only do this on one condition." Said Ryou pausing just before he reached Yugi. "You have to get Marik under the Mistletoe too."

"What?! No bloody way am I dragging Marik under the Mistletoe." Argued Bakura leaning against the wall and crossing his arms. Since they seemed to have stopped running.

"Well then I guess I'm not going to be able to ruin the Pharoah's love life for you, so sad Yugi and I love died before its time." Persuaded Ryou in a bored tone.

"Why you conniving little me. . . FINE! I'll do it. Marik probably doesn't even know what Mistletoe is." Grumbled Bakura agreeing to the terms.

"Great! Hold the food." Said Ryou excitedly as he handed the plate to Bakura and continued towards Yugi down a ways on the wall.

"You know I can't eat this! Ryou this is just bloody cruel." Complained Bakura from his spot on the wall as he stared at the delicious food that was surely getting cold.

As soon as Ryou got close to Yugi he started having second thoughts. Talking to Bakura about kissing under the Mistletoe and actually kissing Yugi under it were two TOTALLY different things. What if he said something stupid? What if Yugi said no and walked away laugh!? Ryou couldn't let that happen Yugi was his best friend! So when Ryou finally got to Yugi's side he ended up just standing there awkwardly and tried to think of what to say.

" _Ryou you're standing there like a Bloody idiot. For god's sakes just say hello_." Spoke Bakura from the mind link. He was getting tired of staring at their food.

" _Right_." Responded Ryou getting some of his confidence back. "Ummm... Uhhh... Yugi-kun.. did you-"

Ryou's muttering went unheard as Yugi finished whatever he was doing and walked away.

"Gahhhhhh God damnit Yugi-kun would you like to bloody kiss since we're under the freaking Mistletoe? Come on Ryou Bakura it's not that freaking hard! What the hell is wrong with you?" Laminated Ryou as he hit his head against the wall. "Your such a stupid bloody idiot!"

"You done beating yourself up yet?" Asked Bakura once he finally came over a few seconds later. He had been able to hear the entire yelling feast from the mind link anyway.

"Yeah." Mumbled Ryou into the wall.

"Would you like to go to your soul room for a while to cry about it." Asked Bakura in a serious voice.

"Yes." Said Ryou lifting his head from the wall and taking the plate and drinks Bakura offered him. "You still have to get Marik under the Mistletoe." Reminded Ryou as he drifted into the soul room and closed the door.

"Of course I do." Said Bakura with a frown as he slipped into full control of the body.

Bakura headed to the table with Ryou's friends knowing he'd get yelled at if he just ignored them for the night. He sat down ending up on Marik's other side beside Honda. His mumbled a fake happy greeting and immediately started eating his side of the plate to avoid any unwanted conversations.

The side of the plate Bakura was eating gave it away to Marik that he was in fact sitting besides a faking Bakura instead of a happy Ryou. "So Bakura where'd you get the suit I thought you told me you didn't have one?" Said Marik trying to start a conversation.

"That's because I didn't. Ry-I went and rented this one last week." Answered Bakura in his fake Ryou voice.

"Interesting. Well it looks good on you." Complemented Marik playing along with talking to Ryou instead of Bakura.

"Yeah. The green tie goes really well with your brown eyes Ryou." Complemented Anzu butting in from across the table.

"Thank you Anzu-chan." Responded Bakura with a fake smile. After that everyone returned to their meals and private conversations. Allowing Bakura to finish his dinner.

"So why are you here instead of Ryou?" Whispered Marik while Miho was distracted with Shizuka talking about where they got their dresses.

"Ryou tried to confess his interest to someone tonight and it backfired on him. He went to our soul room to cry about it." Explained Bakura simply, leaving out that it was Yugi Ryou was trying to confess to.

"Yeah I understand what he's going through. Trying to confess to someone you like and then it backfiring. I can relate." Said Marik with a little bite in his voice.

"Yeah I guess you do." Responded Bakura with the same amount of bite. The two ended up in a staring/glaring contest refusing to look away from each other.

"Oh Marik-kun! I was just telling Shizuka-chan how sweet! You were when you picked me up tonight. He opened the door to the car and everything! You really are a gentleman Marik-kun." Shouted Miho interrupting their glaring contest.

"Yes I guess I really am quite a gentleman." Responded Marik turning back to join their conversation.

At Marik's clear dismissing of him Bakura got up and mumbled something about getting more food. Even though his plate was still half full with food he wouldn't eat. God he wish Ryou would stop moping already. This party with Bloody boring and he wanted to just go home.

Bakura ended up throwing away the plate with Ryou's food on it and just going to get another full plate of the food he wanted. As he walked towards the buffet table he saw a strange side table with a few giggling teens in front of it. He paused and once they moved he was able to see what they were giggling at. On the table was a bowl filled with Mistletoe and few poles and string. The sign on the table said catch a little kiss tonight. Bakura realized this was the perfect way to finish his part of the deal.

No one even noticed that the skilled thief walked past the table. Let alone notice that he had filled one of his suit pockets with Mistletoe. He didn't need a stupid stick to get what he wanted anyway.

Bakura finally got to the buffet table and filled his plate again. The next thirty minutes was just Bakura throwing Mistletoe at Marik every chance he got. Walking back to the table? A piece of Mistletoe, going to the bathroom? another piece, getting drinks? another freaking piece. Bakura made sure to get "caught" throwing the Mistletoe a few times to make sure Marik knew it was him instead of some other idiot.

When Bakura got up to refill his own drink and threw another piece. Marik finally lost it and followed the annoying thief. "Bakura! Why are you throwing plants at me? I thought we got past the whole vegan jokes thing." Questioned Marik when he finally reached Bakura. He turned him around and grabbed him by the shirt collar.

Bakura wasn't the least bit phased by this and was to focused on the Mistletoe in Marik's hair. Which now because of their height difference was technically "above" them. "Marik you do know what types of plants those are, right?"

"No I don't know what "type" of plants they are. You can tell the difference between plants better than me Bakura. What are they poisonous?" Asked Marik suddenly worried about that possibility, knowing Bakura it could be true.

"No they're not poisonous." Said Bakura rolling his eyes at his friends paranoia. "They're called Mistletoe. They have a special holiday meaning."

"Oh... What meaning exactly?" Asked Marik a little embarrassed by his worry.

"If you're "caught" under them with someone you have to kiss them." Explained Bakura suddenly wishing he hadn't explained that. Why didn't he just leave it at holiday plant with NO meaning?

"Kiss?! Bakura why would you want something like that in my hair?... Oh no your not pulling that not after what you said in September. No way!" Yelled Marik pushing Bakura away when he FINALLY figured out what was going on. "Go kiss the stupid fucking tree you got these things from you asshole!" Said Marik marching off.

"Well I shouldn't have thought that would have gone any differently." Said Bakura with a sigh.

"I told you. You guys were in the awkward phase." Spoke up Ryou finally coming out of their soul room.

"Yeah like I want advice from you." Grumbled Bakura crossing his arms and finally letting it set in that Marik had just outright rejected him.

"You guys really just need to talk things out. Then everything can go back to normal." Encouraged Ryou.

"Yeah like everything will go back to normal *snap* just like that." Argued back Bakura.

"Yeah! If you guys just sat down for once and talked about things instead of ignoring them. You both hate to face the root of the problem and that's why things are so awkward." Explained Ryou trying to convince Bakura to just TALK to Marik.

"Hey Ryou! I didn't know the Spirit of the Ring came too." Greeted Jounichi when he saw Ryou and Bakura standing beside each other.

"Hey Jounichi. Honda." Greeted Ryou when he saw his friends walk up. " Where's everyone else?" Asked Ryou hoping to keep the conversation away from the still silently fuming Bakura.

"The girls all went to the bathroom together to "freshen up" and Kaiba kicked us out of our own table after only 5 minutes! I can't believe Rich Boy even came to this thing." Complained Jounichi as Honda walked to the other side of them.

"I think he just came to see how much of a fool you'd make of yourself Jou. You know he would love any chance to mock you about your lack of "formal skills"." Spoke up Honda.

"Hey my formal skills are just fine!" Argued back Jounichi. "It's yours that are lacking you didn't even hold the door for my sister when you got here!"

"She said she could do it herself! So I let her!" Said Honda defending himself. Bakura's anger was slowly growing with each second he was stuck in the middle of this annoying conversation.

"Yeah guys I think I will be going were out of... punch!" Spoke up Ryou as he grabbed Bakura's arm. He was trying to get Bakura away from this conversation as he felt Bakura's anger and frustration slowly growing.

"Wait Ryou you guys can't go yet." Said Jounichi with a smug voice.

"Yeah you two have to do something first." Agreed Honda with the same smug voice.

"What?" They asked at the same time. They followed Jounichi and Honda's eyes towards something above them. In their hand on a string from a pole was a piece of a little green plant. Ryou and Bakura looked at each other in unison and said "EW!" Both jumping a good foot away from each other. This seemed to be that last straw for Bakura because as soon as the shock wore off he marched off completely fuming.

"Guys that's super gross!" Exclaimed Ryou as he watched Bakura march off. "Bakura is like my brother."

"Hehe sorry Ryou. We knew if the Pharaoh and Yug' got a chance they'd do it and we figured it would be the same with you two." Apologized Jounichi.

"Yeah if we had known we would make the Spirit of the Ring that mad we wouldn't of done it." Apologized Honda worried about Bakura trying to get revenge.

"He's not just mad at you guys. What you did was just the straw that broke the camel's back. I have to find him before he does something stupid though." Said Ryou starting to head in the direction Bakura went.

"Sorry Ryou." Apologized Jounichi again as Ryou walked off. "Come on Honda maybe we can get the Pharaoh and Yug' under the Mistletoe." The two ran off to cause more trouble and mischief.

As soon as Bakura ran off he went towards the utilities closet on the side of the gym. Hoping there was a mop in there he could snap in two or something. With one of the many hair pins that Ryou had put in their hair to try and keep it down. Bakura quickly picked the lock and snuck into the closet not bothering to lock the door.

"Ah Damnit!" Yelled Bakura when he realized it was an electrical closet and there wasn't anything he could break easily. With a sigh he slid down the right wall to the floor having to pull his legs up, because of the small space.

" _Bakura! Where are you? I can't find you_!" Called Ryou through the mind link interrupting Bakura's thoughts.

" _That's the point of disappearing Ryou! Now leave me alone_!" Yelled Bakura into the mind link.

" _Ugh fine just don't hurt yourself, kill anybody, or leave yet. I want to talk to the others for a little while before we leave_." Said Ryou after a time.

" _I'm not going anywhere, go socialize if you want to so badly. That's why we're here in the Bloody first place_!" Said Bakura continuing to yell into the mindlink.

" _I'm trying to give you time to cool off you don't have to be an asshole about it_." Grumbled a hurt Ryou as he cut the link.

"Idiot knows me too well." Sighed Bakura out loud once the link was cut.

"Amane seems to know you pretty well too." Spoke a voice from the doorway. Bakura jumped he had been so focused on his conversation with Ryou. He didn't notice the door open and the noise of the dance increase. He needed to work on that. Bakura was even more shocked by who was currently shutting the open door.

"Ishtar? What the hell are you doing here? How did you know I was here?" Questioned a confused Bakura to the now identified Marik Ishtar.

"Well it turns out Amane is pretty good at guessing where you would go to "sulk" as she calls it. Oh Amane is here by the way. Pretty sure she had Mokuba help her break in." Explained Marik as he stepped into the room.

"That little spy her mum's going to kill her when she finds out Amane snuck into a highschool party." Said Bakura with a chuckle. "Why did you come looking for me though? Ryou surely hasn't sent out the search parties yet." Asked Bakura getting serious again.

"Well I didn't know you were missing, really." Said Marik as he sat down on the left wall facing Bakura. "Amane ran up to me and yelled at me about the Mistletoe thing. Said I had to go makeup or whatever. She's pretty persistent when she wants to be."

"Yeah." Said Bakura satisfied with the answer. Any future words were interrupted by the click of the lock on the door. "The little spy. She just locked the door so we couldn't be "interrupted"." Said Bakura with a laugh. "So how's your date with Miss. Miho-chan."

"Ugh what was I THINKING." Moaned Marik. "I picked her, because I knew it would annoy you. But I never took into account that she might annoy the hell out of ME." Complained Marik.

"There's a reason Ryou's friendship friends don't really hang out with her anymore and it has nothing to do with her switching to a different class."

"Seriously I don't care why you picked straps instead of strapless. I don't want to know how many time you made the hair dresser redo your hair, and I certainly don't care why you picked sea blue instead of light blue for your FREAKING dress!" Ranted Marik releasing all his frustration about his date to Bakura.

"Haha I still don't know the difference between all these different colors of bloody blue. Ryou used to have this one puzzle and the entire background was different colors of blue and grey." Agreed Bakura with a laugh.

"Bakura we're getting off topic." Said Marik stopping the coming tangent.

"Ah yes we were just about to get to the part of your nice red tie I do believe." Said Bakura in a joking tone.

"What?! NO! This is your fault anyway." Argued Marik taking the bait.

"My fault. Don't believe I ever gave you formal dance outfit advice." Said Bakura skeptically.

"You told me Christmas colors were Dark Green and Red not light blue and white." Accused Marik.

"They are. But this is Domino High's WINTER formal meaning the color scheme of the dance is blue and white to match snow." Explained Bakura.

"Oh then why are you wearing green? If you knew the color scheme." Inquired Marik.

"I don't Bloody know Ryou picked out the damn outfit." Grumbled Bakura.

"The little Spy." Whispered Marik in shock.

"What?"

"Amane she asked me last week what I was wearing to the winter dance. She probably turned right around and told Ryou."

"So we could MATCH!" Exclaimed Bakura with a growl. "Oh she is so dead."

"Ha knowing them they probably planned this whole fucking night." Exclaimed Marik with a laugh.

"Yeah I don't think the Mistletoe was part of their plan." Mumbled Bakura remembering how horribly unprepared Ryou was to talk to Yugi.

"You little sneak. You got me completely distracted from what I came here to do!" Yelled an upset Marik realizing what Bakura had done.

"What? Noooo. Anyway I'm pretty sure I just heard Ryou through the mindlink. I think he's finally ready to go." Said Bakura trying to stand up.

"Oh no you ALWAYS do this." Said Marik pulling Bakura back down. "You always find ways to stall then sneak away and we never discuss the problem! And I let you! Because I don't want to talk about it either! I just want to pretend everything is fine and that things can go back to normal. But that's a lie a freaking lie Bakura! A lie we keep telling ourselves. Maybe Amane's right maybe we just need to communicate for Once instead of avoiding it." Yelled Marik frustrated at the situation they found themselves in.

"Sounds like what Ryou's been ranting to me about." Mumbled Bakura avoiding Marik's eyes and looking up at the ceiling.

"Well maybe they're right! Maybe the thing EVERYONE we like, has been telling us has at least some truth in it." Continued Marik hopping this conversation might fix this problem for once.

"What do you want us to DO Marik suddenly share our "feelings" with each other? Start over? Hi! I'm Bakura and my favorite color is green and my favorite animal is puppies and kitties and rainbows!" Exclaimed Bakura in a frustrated and sarcastic tone.

"Rainbows aren't an animal."

"You get the Bloody point we're not exactly the "strongest" at sharing what's bothering us and what the problem is."

"We don't have to share our "feelings" Bakura. Maybe we can just start at telling each other the truth instead of avoiding the conversation. Why did you really throw Mistletoe at me? Why did you want a kiss? Why now? When we had just gotten over that argument. Why bring it up again?" Questioned Marik to a Bakura that still wasn't looking at him.

"Because... I don't know alright! I just thought we could try it once. Just to know. What it would be like. To just kiss no emotions or feelings behind it just a quick kiss." Explained a frustrated Bakura finally looking Marik in the eye.

"Well I know that was never going to happen." Said Marik causing Bakura to look away. "Bakura if I ever did kiss you... There could never be NO emotions behind it. I've shoved and locked away my emotions so many times that. If we did kiss I'd want to feel every feeling that came with it." Marik said looking away and slightly blushing while he spoke.

"Guess it was a stupid idea. I've never been good at holding things back." Spoke up Bakura slightly admitting to having feelings for Marik as well.

"Then why can't we Bakura. Last time you just pushed me away and now it seems like that sliver of hope that you might have feelings back is a giant beacon. Why can't we kiss. We're in a closet after all that's were makeout sessions always happen in the movies. I mean Ryou already said he didn't care. So you don't have that excuse. Even Mrs. Bakura and Amane seem cool with the idea! So tell me Bakura what's stopping you? What force on the entire earth is stopping you from kissing me right here right now?" Demanded Marik grabbing Bakura's shoulders and causing the two to face each other.

"Marik it's not on this damn earth and if the Pharaoh Bloody wins like he always does, it never will." Yelled Bakura shaking Marik's shoulders back. "Don't you getting it?! I'm stalling! I've been stalling since fucking JULY! The Pharaoh has known I've been back since before July! And Ryou finished the fucking diorama in AUGUST! Don't you get it!? The final game is set and should have been completed months ago, so the last two-three months?! It's been me fucking stalling! First I was like oh I can wait until after Ryou and I's birthday in September. Let everything go to hell after Ryou turns 17! Then I was like oh Marik's never celebrated Halloween before. Can't miss scaring the Shit out of Marik on his first Halloween! I found out Ryou's father was going to be here for Christmas and I was like. Oh! Can't miss the last family Christmas together! Me learning when your Birthday was, was just another reason to stall. I couldn't miss your first HAPPY Birthday with the fucking cake and fucking presents and stupid fucking party! So here we are at a stupid fucking "Winter" Dance locked in a closet and talking about our "feelings". When really we should be freaking out about the fact that in a month your job as tombkeeper will FINALLY be over "Yay" and the darkness itself might rise and kill everybody. Not to mention that I'll probably die at the end of this stupid Fucking Final Game no matter the Fucking outcome. So yeah sorry if I don't want to start something I'll never be able to Fucking finish." Finished Bakura finally ending his long rant.

"You've been stalling since July? So when I asked you in September you already knew you were on borrowed time." Spoke Marik softly, slowly taking in what Bakura said. "Bakura you can't really think your going to die in this final game."

"Heh there's literally no other outcome. Either we lose to the Pharaoh again and the darkness kills me, because this was my last fucking chance to free him or "we" win and he kills me because I'm no longer useful. In that version everybody else fucking dies too." Said Bakura in a sarcastic voice.

"Does Mrs. Bakura and Amane know?"

"..."

"Does RYOU even know!?"

"..."

"Bakura! What, did you think you could just run off to Egypt some day, DIE!, and not tell anyone about it!?" Questioned a distraught Marik.

"I planned to tell Ryou just before it happened. If Amane and their Mum don't know then they can't get in the way and can't stupidly try to stop _IT_." Explained Bakura ending in a hushed whisper obviously not talking about the plan, but something else.

After a few minutes of quiet Marik finally found something to say. "I guess that is a good reason to not want a stupid kiss."

Bakura relaxed finally and leaning back crossing his arms behind his head. "Yeah it's a pretty good reason if I do say so myself."

"Still going to get you back for throwing freaking plants at me." Chuckled Marik returning to the reason for it all.

"After we get back at Ryou and Amane for setting all this stuff up." Reminded Bakura with a chuckle as well.

"That's right how could I forget about our wonderful "cupids"." Responded Marik sarcastically.

Bakura and Marik looked each other in the eye for a second before cracking up laughing. It took a few minutes for them to collect themselves. Then they settled into a comfortable silence. Both glad to have talked things out and gotten past all that.

"Hey I know this song." Commented Bakura suddenly.

"What?" Question Marik starting to once again listen to the music that was coming from the dance on the other side of the door.

"It's the waltz Ryou's Mum made me learn it once." Said Bakura starting to think back to multiple impromptu dancing sessions that happened in the Bakura family kitchen.

"You know how to dance?"

"Yeah better than Ryou at least. That kid has no balance when it comes to dancing and only dancing for some God knows reason."

"I've always wanted to see one of those formal dances live. Actually be a part of one you know? Everyone always seemed to have fun doing them in the movies." Sighed Marik for longingly.

"Well why don't we?" "What?" "I'm better than most of those idiots out there. If you want to dance to the Waltz. I'm probably your best bet tonight of not making a fool of yourself while doing it." Persuaded Bakura standing up and offering his hand to Marik.

"I'm sure I'll find a way to make a fool of myself." Said Marik taking the offered hand.

"Then I'm sure will end up being fools together. Correction you and Ryou will make fools of yourselves." Joked Bakura as he finished helping Marik up and headed for the door.

"Asshole." Said Marik as he punched Bakura in the arm. Bakura just laughed.

"Wait what just happened?" Questioned Marik as they stepped out into the loud gym.

"I think we both just inadvertently asked each other to dance. Then both said yes." Said Bakura also surprised by the outcome.

"Man if Ryou sees us Honda will owe Ryou 200 yen." Spoke up Marik once they reached the dance floor.

"Of course those wankers Bloody bet on us. Gah this was probably part of Ryou and Amane's plan too." Grumbled a frustrated Bakura. "Whatever we decided to dance so we're dancing." Said Bakura as he stepped onto the dance floor nimbly missing all the other dancers. Marik wasn't as nimble, not knowing where the dancers were going. He ended up bumping into a lot of people.

"Whoops! Sorry! Pardon me! Oh Sorry! I hope that comes out. Bakura! Little He- HELP! Ahhhh."

"Marik come'on you just have to flow with the dancers it's not that Bloody hard." Grumbled Bakura grabbing Marik and getting him out of the path of another pair of dancers. Bakura found a empty space in the circle and started getting Marik into the right position.

"Come on. You put your hands here and here and you follow my steps here then-" "Bakura this is the girl position." "What? There is no girl position." "Yes there is and this it. This is the position the girl always takes." "Marik their is no Bloody "girl" position! It's just leading and following." "Well then I want to be leader!" "You can't be leader! Two minutes ago you said you didn't even know how to do this dance!" "Well I don't want to be follower!" "Too Bloody bad your follower deal with it and follow my lead." . . . . . "fine" (a few moments later.) "Bakura I get the steps now. Let me switch." "What?" "You said I couldn't lead because I didn't know the steps now I do. So let me lead." "What that's NOT what I said!" "YES it IS! Bakura just let me lead." "Ugh fine let's switch." "See Bakura this works so much better!" "Hmmm Whatever."

While Bakura and Marik finally got into the grove of dancing Ryou was still looking for the missing Bakura. He figured Bakura would of cooled off by now. "Yugi? Kaiba?"

"Oh hey Ryou." Greeted Yugi who Ryou quickly identified as the "other" Yugi.

"Oh hey Pharaoh. Didn't know you would be here." Corrected a startled Ryou.

"Yeah me and Abiou agreed to split the night in half. Him getting the first half and me the second. I assume that's what you and the Spirit of the Ring agreed too." Inquired the Pharaoh subtly asking why Ryou was in Astral form moving around the dance.

"Oh no we had nothing concrete like that planned out. We were just switching back and forth. Then Bakura ran off. You haven't seen me lately have you?" Asked Ryou in a joking tone.

"No I haven't. Sorry. Should we be worry?"

"What about dweeb 1 and dweeb 2? No I think they have themselves plenty entertained making fools of themselves." Butted in Kaiba noticing the two on the dance floor.

"What? You can see Marik and Bakura? Where?" Asked an eager Ryou.

"They literally have the center light shining on them. How more cliché can you get?" Scoffed Kaiba finally pointing out the two to Ryou and the Pharaoh. A screech of No going through the gym as one Miss Miho-chan was dragged from the gym.

"Looks like Honda owes you 200 yen." Pointed out the Pharaoh once the shock subsided.

"Well at least they're getting along again." Sighed Ryou tired of their going back and forth.

"YEAH! And I've got Pictures!" Said a young, excited, female voice beside them.

"AMANE!? What are you doing here?" Questioned a surprised and worried Ryou.

"Well you forget bro it's very easy for me to sneak into your school. Especially with help!" Answered Amane with a sneaky smile.

"Girl tell Mokuba that if he's not home in 30 minutes I'm sending Isono out to kill him and drag back his carcass." Spoke an angry Seto Kaiba.

"Nis-sama! Don't do that I'll go home right now promise." Spoke up Mokuba seeming to show up from nowhere as well.

"Both of you need to go home you shouldn't be out this late." Said Ryou looking pointedly at Amane.

"I will! I will! But first can I stay for a little longer this is Marik and Bakura's first Winter dance, and there first date, and their first slow dance! There's a lot of firsts that happened tonight and you have to let me get more pictures! PLEASE!" Begged Amane causing her eyes to get all big and making the face even Bakura couldn't ever say no too.

"Alright only a few more. Then you have to leave and you can't let Bakura see you. You know he'd skin you alive if he saw you." Warned Ryou finally letting in.

"YES! Thank you Oni-chan! You know I wouldn't do this if I didn't think I could sneak past Aniki-chan's** eyes. I'm a spy after all." Said Amane with confidence rushing off to get more pictures and evidence of this magical night.

"Ni-sama." "No." "Pleaseeeee." "No." "I promise to leave when Amane does." "Knowing her brother. She's probably not leaving until he walks out the door." "But Ni-sammmaaaa." *sigh* "You have to call Isono and have him give you both a ride home afterwards." *Smile* "He's already outside isn't he." "Well he wouldn't let me walk all the way here after dark! That's just asking to get kidnapped. Isono's not that stupid Nis-sama." "Just go follow your girlfriend." "She's not my girlfriend!"

"She's not his girlfriend Kaiba!" Butted in Ryou after Mokuba had ran off.

"She pretty close Bakura* and that's enough for me to bug Mokuba about it." Said Kaiba simply in a bored tone.

-Line Break-

After the dance, all the students started to find transportation to get home. Everyone was in the courtyard waiting for rides.

"Ni-sama can we give Amane a ride home." Asked Mokuba as he followed his big brother out of the school.

"No Mokuba. If we give Amane a ride home we have to give the idiots a ride home." Answered Seto continuing his brisk walk towards their limo.

"But Ni-sama!"

"Hey Kaiba! Wait for us!" Yelled a voice behind the two Kaiba brothers. "Come on guys our rides leaving!"

"Mokuba."

"Hehe I might of offered Jonouchi and his friends a ride home." Explained an apologetic Mokuba.

*sigh* "If your girlfriend isn't here in 2 seconds I'm leaving with these dweebs without her."

"Thanks Ni-sama!"

"Hey Kaiba." Greeted Jonouchi as he, his sister, and Honda reached the limo.

"Get in the limo or we're leaving without you." Responded Kaiba.

At this the three hurried into the limo as Mokuba and Seto waited. "Thank you for giving us a ride Kaiba-sama." Thanked Shizuka as she got into the limo Kaiba just grunted in response.

"And then I died, in the lava." Explained Ryou to Amane as they walked down the steps. Amane had gotten enough pictures and ended up just talking about video games with Ryou.

"Ha so you kill twenty ogres and end up dieing in the lava? Ha." Laughed Amane.

"It was Bakura's fault he thought we could jump far enough to land on the rocks, but our jumps weren't far enough."

"It wasn't my fault! You're the one that jumped." Butted in Bakura from where he and Marik were walking behind Ryou and Amane.

"You're the one that told me too! Then you went and got the power up. Since you didn't die in the lava like a noob."

"I died like five minutes later against that lava serpent thing remember? It balanced out so stop whining about it."

"Anyway after we respawned I was able to take on the Orc King and-" Bakura stopped listening at this point not caring to hear Ryou brag about being the one to kill the Orc King again.

"So you're not going to tell the others about what we talked about right?" Whispered Bakura too Marik slowing them down so they were walking farther away from Ryou and Amane.

"What? Oh yeah. I won't tell them, but I think you should." Replied Marik. "I mean they should at least have a heads up."

*tisk*

"Come on Bakura I would want to know if my-"

"Your what Marik your ghost, your demon, the thing that has been possessing your son for the past ten years was finally going to be gone. Ha it's crazy to think they'll miss me."

"It may be crazy, but I'm probably the only one that can confirm that they'll miss you Bakura. At the very least I'll miss this." Sighed Marik as they continued following Amane and Ryou who had reached the Kaiba's limo.

"Don't get all sappy on me. This is why I don't want anyone to know! You really can't tell them."

"Sorry, I won't tell them I promise alright. Just. . . If you need help with this you can-"

"Don't Marik. You're suppose to be a "good" guy remember? You're not aloud to help me. I can handle it all on my own."

"Yeah I am a good guy, but if you ever need help setting up the final game. I'm aloud to help, it's the game to get the Pharaoh's memories back after all."

"Ngh fine you Bloody wanker you can help. Happy?"

"Yes, very. Now if you don't mind I think we should get to the limo. It looks like everyone is waiting for us." Said Marik finishing the conversation and heading to the limo Kaiba was still leaning on. Mokuba had gotten into the limo when Ryou and Amane had gotten to it.

"What took you dweebs so long? You losers didn't even kiss, waste of time. Now get in." Grumbled an annoyed Seto as Marik and Bakura finally got into the limo.

Bakura for once remained silent knowing Ryou would be pissed if they were forced to walk home. Honda and Shizuka were sitting on the far side of the limo. Mokuba and Amane were sitting the farthest up back to the driver. Ryou was sitting on the other side of the vehicle on Amane's other side. Jonouchi was sitting in the very back of the limo. Bakura and Marik slid in sitting beside Ryou. Forcing Kaiba to sit by Jonouchi.

Yugi had saved up and rented a ride for himself and Anzu to get home in. The lack of Muto was probably part of the cause of Kaiba's pouting during the ride to Jonouchi and Shizuka's house.

Once Shizuka, Jonouchi, and Honda were dropped off. Bakura moved from between Marik and Ryou to the other side of the limo stretching out to take the entire seat.

"Hey Bakura there's wine in here!" Exclaimed Marik as he looked through the mini fridge.

"No."

"Come on Bakura. It's Kaiba's it has to be the good stuff."

"I'm not getting pissed*** 5 minutes before I walk through the door. Ryou's Mum is already going to murder us for allowing Amane to stay the entire night at the party. I'm not adding to her list."

"Ugh Bakura you're no fun. Whatever I'm trying some of this stuff."

"Hey! Don't mess with my drinks." Yelled Kaiba at the end of his ropes.

"You heard the man. Don't drink his wine Marik." Grinned a smug Bakura.

"Ger you guys are no fun." Pouted Marik as he took a soda out of the fridge and closed it.

"Besides Marik do you really want to get pissed in front of Ryou and Amane? Last time you got pissed you wouldn't stop talking like a really bad cowboy." Laughed Bakura from his side of the limo.

"What? You were the one that kept singing!" Accused an embarrassed Marik.

"It was a bet and I only sung one song." Defended Bakura.

"All I remember was the Bloody hangover you wankers gave me the next morning." Butted in Ryou. "I had school the next day!"

"Ha I remeber that. You kept falling asleep in your breakfast. Mum was really mad." Said Amane remembering the morning after really well since she didn't have a hangover.

"Why am I not surprised you idiots went and got drunk on a school night." Sighed Kaiba from his seat in the back.

"Hey look it's your guy's house." Said Mokuba suddenly stopping the conversation and argument that was sure to come. The limo stopped and everyone but the Kaiba's got out.

"Thanks for coming and breaking into the high school with me Mokuba." Thanked Amane as she got out of the limo. "I had fun!"

"Yeah we should do it again sometime!" Responded Mokuba with a slight blush.

"I'll email you the pictures." Whispered Amane with a grin.

"Heh girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend Ni-sama!" Came from the limo as it pulled away from the curb.

Ryou, Bakura, Amane, and Marik were left staring at the front door. All silently asking who was going to be the one to go through the door first and face Mrs. Bakura.

"Ugh you guys are all wimps." Sighed Marik as he lead the way to the door. "Seriously Bakura how can you be scared of a woman in her early 40s?"

"I've been asking that since I was dumped in this family. You have no right to judge you've never seen her as mad as she's going to be when Amane walks through the door with us." Defended Bakura.

"I've seen her mad." Replied Marik as he opened the door and stepped into the livingroom.

"Hey Ryou! Bakura! How was the dance?" Asked a woman's voice from the kitchen. "Oh hi Marik! I didn't know you were coming here too."

"Hey Mum. Yeah we got a ride from Kaiba and he dropped Marik off with us. Can he stay the night?" Explained Ryou as he stepped into the living room behind Marik.

"Sure dear I get the air mattress out of the hallway closet, but first there's something we need to talk about." Said Mrs. Bakura with a cheerful smile.

"Umm what would that be?" Asked Ryou getting nervous.

"Oh nothing really big." Said Mrs. Bakura with a smile. "Just the location of your sister." Finished Mrs. Bakura her smile vanishing and a glare replacing it.

"Oh . . . that."

"Yes that."

"Well . . . umm. Mum she's . . . umm."

"Mrs. Bakura we can explain she's-"

"Right behind Bakura who just walked through the door." Stated Mrs. Bakura as she pointed towards the door.

"Yeah . . . Mum it's not our fault! She just snuck out with Kaiba, Mokuba! We just made sure she came back home with us." Explained Ryou in a nervous rush, never haven been good under pressure.

"Is that true Bakura?" Asked Mrs. Bakura with a frown.

"Yes! It's not my Bloody fault! I didn't even know she was there until I caught her taking Bloody pictures of Marik and I at the end of the dance. We left like twenty minutes later." Explained Bakura deciding to leave out when Marik told him about her while they were in the closet.

"Well then Amane you're grounded from your laptop until after Christmas."

"What!?"

"You know better than to sneak out. I specifically told you not to sneak out to the high school dance, but you did. Your father and I will discuss the finally date for when you get it back. Now go and get your laptop please."

"Ugh fine." Grumbled Amane as she went to her room to get her laptop.

"Sorry about that Marik." Apologized Mrs. Bakura knowing he wasn't used to seeing her that angry.

"It's fine."

"Oh you boys look so handsome. Wait here I'm getting my camera." Said Mrs. Bakura her good mood returning as she left the room.

"But Mum you already got pictures! Ugh she's going to keep us up all night." Groaned Ryou as he sat down on the couch. Happy to have the threat of punishment gone, but upset about having to pose for more pictures. "Sorry Marik."

"Haha it's fine. I hope this means she's going to force Bakura to be in some pictures." Joked Marik as he sat in the arm chair.

"No way I avoided being in the pictures earlier and I'll do it again." Stated Bakura firmly as he layed on the back of the couch behind Ryou's head.

"Alright boys I got the camera. The batteries were charging from earlier. Come on get up and against the wall. Sooner we do this sooner you can go change and go to bed."

Mrs. Bakura took some pictures of just Marik since she wasn't able to get any before the party. Then she got a few of Marik and Ryou. Before doing a miracle and getting Bakura to control the body for a few pictures with Marik.

Once the pictures were taken and the air mattress was blown up. Everyone went to bed happy to have the winter dance done with.

Next dance Prom.

* * *

So thanks for reading!

* Jonouchi and Honda are calling Ryou by his family name. Not calling him the Spirit of the Ring

** Aniki-chan is Japanese for someone you look up to like a big brother. I had a huge debate with my self about using this or Ani-chan witch is referring to your own big brother in the third person.

*** British slang for drunk not getting angry

I decided to mention this in my outro, so yeah Bakura may be OOC whoops. But in my defense he never actually saw the Pharaoh so. Hope you guys like how I characterized everybody otherwise and I'd love to hear your feed back on Mrs. Bakura and Amane. I haven't read a fic where they were more than just mentioned, so I'm flying blind and hoping they're not Mary Sue's.

Once again got the mistletoe stuff from somefxckingnerd. So I hope you liked it! I love your howtotrainyouryami blog. Seriously go check them out! Also if you liked the Bakura and Ryou moments in this then go check out my "Ghost of the Family" story. Lots of Bakura and Ryou brotherly fluff.

Darkhorse Out!


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